Report: US Preparing Iran Strike Plan

America is preparing a plan to strike Iranian nuclear targets if sanctions fail to persuade Tehran to halt its atomic development.

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Chana Ya'ar, 01/03/12 11:01

Martin Dempsey

Reuters

U.S. military officials say that America is preparing a plan to strike Iranian nuclear targets in the event that sanctions fail to persuade Tehran to halt its hurtle towards atomic development.

A report by the Bloomberg news agency quoted U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz late Wednesday night as saying such a strike would be carried out if Iran fails to prove its nuclear develop program is geared solely towards peaceful purposes.

“What we can do, you wouldn't want to be in the area,” Schwartz warned.

“There's no group in America more determined to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon than the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Army General Martin Dempsey said, according to Bloomberg.

The report indicated that options under consideration included the possibility of aerial refueling for Israeli planes as part of the assault. Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu flies to Washington D.C. next week to speak at the AIPAC convention, where he will meet on this issue with President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials.

Targets under consideration included the regime in Tehran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the Quds Force, and various Iranian military bases.

Iran has long insisted that its nuclear development activities are being carried out solely for peaceful domestic purposes. However, Western intelligence has provided the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency with irrefutable proof that Iran is engaged in the development of a nuclear weapon of mass destruction.

The IAEA has taken note with increasing concern that Iran refuses despite the numerous rounds of sanctions imposed by the international body to halt its ever-increasing enrichment of uranium. Tehran scientists recently managed to break through the 20-percent uranium enrichment barrier at which it is possible to create an atomic warhead, albeit one that is relatively primitive.